Boys Basketball – Week One Player of the Week Winner: Carl Swensen, Lacey

Week One Orthopaedic Institute of Central Jersey SSN Player of the Week

Carl Swensen, Lacey

Swensen looks like one of the breakout performers of the young season for an overhauled Lacey team. The junior guard averaged 25.7 points in Lacey’s first three divisional games, putting up 30 in a win over Manchester and 28 in a loss to Jackson Liberty. He also scored 19 points in an opening-night loss to Point Boro and after the voting opened up on Monday, Swensen scored 20-plus points again in WOBM consolation wins over Toms River East and Toms River South.

Under first-year coach Sean McAndrew, Lacey has picked up its scoring dramatically and averaged 66.5 points per game during a 3-3 start. Swensen, who averaged under 10 points as a sophomore, has scored 19 or more in five of the six games and is averaging 23.7 points during the team's solid start.

Swensen won the first SSN Player of the Week vote with 42 percent of the more than 10,000 votes cast, beating out runner-up Stephen Braunstein of Christian Brothers Academy. The Colts junior picked up 23 percent of the vote, followed by Brick junior Jalen Jackson with just under 16 percent.